A POPULAR brand of ice cream has disappeared from UK shelves just six months after launching.
The Sidemen’s Salted Caramel Cake and Chocolate Brownie Fudge Cake which retailed for £4.50 for 500ml, was placed in Iceland stores in February.
The ice creams, made by Beechdean Dairies, had previously launched into the Sidemen’s casual dining chain, called Sides, in December.
Sides food director Gordon McDermott said at the time of the Iceland launch: “The reaction to these ice creams in Sides has been phenomenal… we literally had people buying tubs and tubs like they were in a shop, saying they were taking them home to put in the freezer.
“When that happens, the consumer is telling us something.”
The tubs were last sold in Iceland in August, The Grocer reports, following analysis of Assosia data.
The disappearance follows a gradual reduction of Sides’ grocery range, which is exclusively sold by Iceland.
When Sides launched last summer there were 15 products available but this has now been reduced to eight, including four chicken items, hash brown nuggets and three table sauces.
Other products no longer sold by the retailer include Nashville Hash Brown Chicken Fries, Saucy BBQ Cheese Bites and Salt & Pepper BBQ Chicken Wings with Crispy Fried Onions.
Sides boss Robin Mehta told The Grocer the brand was “focusing on the bold, hot chicken products people know and expect from Sides.”
He added: “Sides is growing faster than ever – both on the high street and internationally.
“While our retail range continues to perform, Sides has always been a restaurant first brand, and our grocery lines are designed to bring that same flavour-led experience into homes nationwide.
“Iceland has been an incredible partner in that journey – working closely with us to refine the range so it better reflects our restaurant DNA.
“That means focusing on the bold, hot chicken products people know and expect from Sides, ensuring the lineup in stores mirrors what’s made us famous across our restaurant estate.
“Our ice cream and iced coffee products, originally developed for in-store guests, re now finding traction across foodservice and new retail channels, while Sides Jerky continues to grow strongly in Tesco Express.”
The Sun Online has contacted Iceland for comment.
The Sidemen’s Best Cereal range has also been scaled back, the news outlet reports.
The breakfast brand debuted in Tesco in March last year, followed by Iceland and Morrisons in June.
Best Cereal has since disappeared from Iceland and Tesco.
Tesco said the cereal was only stocked on a “when it’s gone, it’s gone” basis.
The Sidemen’s manager Jordan Schwarzenberger said: “We had an extremely successful launch with Tesco and also ran limited-time exclusives in Iceland, including our Ice Cream Crunch.
“Best has since agreed to go exclusive with Morrisons, who now stock all of our fan-favourite SKUs (Stock Keeping Units)– including the popular Honeycomb Crunch Squid Games flavour.”
The Sidemen is also known by a number of monikers – W2S, Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123, and Prime Hydration co-founder KSI – collectively have more than 155 million subscribers with over 20 million on their collective YouTube channel.
